Alabama press slams Roy Moore as ‘grossly unfit for office’

The situation for Judge Roy Moore is getting worse by the day as the allegations mounting against him are grabbing headlines at a rapid pace.

Three of Alabama’s largest newspapers published a scathing editorial on Monday, calling the GOP Senate candidate “grossly unfit for office.”

Moore is accused of initiating sexual encounters with girls as young as 14 when he was in his 30s. Moore has repeatedly denied these claims.

DML News has printed a portion of the editorial below. For the full op-ed published by AL.com, please click the link at the bottom of this page and read on their website.

EDITORIAL:
“Roy Moore simply cannot be a U.S. Senator. Even if his party and many of its adherents still think it possible, it is unthinkable — for his state, and his country.

Last week, four women described Moore’s unseemly taste for dating high school girls when he was a single man in his 30s. Another described what can only be seen as a sexual assault on her when she was 14. In a radio interview last week, Moore himself suggested that he may have dated teenage women during his 30s, though he vehemently denied the claims made by these women.

Today, even as those women face disgusting attacks on their motives and credibility, a fifth brave Alabama woman stepped forward and described how when she was 16, Moore violently sexually assaulted her in his car. She said she felt it to be an attempted rape, and that it ended with her bruised from either falling from or being pushed from the car, with Moore warning her he was a powerful man and that no one would believe her if she told anyone.

The seriousness of these incidents cannot be overstated. They should not be parsed with talk of statutes of limitations or whether proof exists. Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is a consideration for the courtroom, not the ballot box. When choosing our representative before the rest of the world, character matters.

Nor should these women’s statements be diminished because the incidents are decades old. If readers objectively look at the reality of life for sex assault victims – at the public doubt and vitriol they face – they’ll understand why girls and women do not come forward readily, or early.”